My left front turn signal light went out. No big deal I thought. According to the owner's manual, just twist out them bulb holder, then twist out the bulb. However, the bulb holder is located in the front left corner, and access is blocked by the air filter box. You would need the hands of a spider monkey to access the bulb holder. Anyone out there have any suggestions, besides (a) asking my 6 year old daughter to try; (b) removing the whole damn air cleaner box; or (c) taking it to the dealer and let them futz with it?
After turning the light bulb socket to release it, be careful to extract it straight out. In other words, don't bump the bulb against the housing.
On mine, the lightbulb itself was not fully seated in it's socket. Right after I twisted the light socket, I heard something fall loose! Yep! You guessed it! The light bulb fell off inside the front headlight housing!
It took me quite a while to figure out a method and even longer for me to get that lightbulb outta there!
On my Y2000 car, the headlight/flasher assembly is translucent, so it's almost impossible to see where the bulb is at any given moment. I ended up fishing around with double-back tape stuck onto the end of a plastic rod. Boy what a PITA! It took me over an hour to snag that thing and coax it out of there!
In retrospect, I suppose I could have removed the whole headlight assembly...
tfung, I'm referring to the air intake bax at the front corner of the engine compartment-- besides about five clips, the box is held in place by at least one bolt, and is attached to other intake components via clamps. Maybe not a major overhaul, but still seems like a PITA to simply replace a bulb.
Russ, thanks for the benefit of your experience! Did you manage to squeeze your hand in there to access and twist the bulb holder? I've got large hands-- maybe I can convince my wife (who is petite) to try it ("Eeww, will I get my hands all dirty?").
Well, like some of you, I also got a little bit surprised about the lack of space for changing the bulbs. Got my local BMW shop to do the job. Took them about 2 min.
Hereīs a pic.
And the rear:
And yes I know itīs not an M5
Best regards,
Mike-S.
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Mike-S - Denmark
Last edited by Micsor/DK; 10th April 2002 at 21:56.
Originally posted by Wilkie ...Russ, thanks for the benefit of your experience! Did you manage to squeeze your hand in there to access and twist the bulb holder? I've got large hands-- maybe I can convince my wife (who is petite) to try it ("Eeww, will I get my hands all dirty?").
Yes, I was able to get my hands in there... but I think I scrapped up my skin on my hands/arms a little bit though... your wife might not like that aspect! I'd rank my hands as "average size".
I believe the passenger side bulb was more difficult to access than the drivers side.
Got mine changed today.
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